Plana and his charter guests helped pull the loggerhead into their boat and then met up on the water with SCCF staff. Transferring the injured turtle aboard the R/V Norma Campbell, SCCF's Sea Turtle team worked with its Marine Lab scientists to rescue the turtle, which is receiving medical attention.

SCCF officials reported that Plana's early identification of the problem, the swift action of SCCF staffers and use of SCCF's new research vessel led to a great result.

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In other happy news for sea turtle season, there are 800 loggerhead nests and over 24,000 hatchlings have emerged on Sanibel and Captiva. Track this year's nesting by visiting sccf.org, click on the "Our Work" tab and then "Sea Turtles," then on the seaturtle.org link.

For any sea turtle issues, contact the SCCF Sea Turtle Hotline at 978-728-3663.

To help provide a safe beach for nesting and hatching sea turtles, keep the following tips in mind:

- Shield or turn off lights near the beach.

- Take all beach furniture, tents, and umbrellas off the beach with you.

- Fill any holes you dig.

- Do not approach or disturb nesting turtles.

- Never take a flash photo of a sea turtle.

- Limit your use of flashlights on the beach at night; if you see a sea turtle, turn the flashlight off immediately.

- Pick up trash on the beach, especially plastic; sea turtles mistake plastic bags in the water for jellyfish.